


the stars were shining (or the sun was blinding)

by jinxfabray



Category: GOT7
Genre: Break Up, Lowercase, M/M, Uni AU, anyway there's lots of jjp and a little markjin, bc everything does happen, bc when do i ever write anything but that, but pls go into this knowing anything can happen, i have given up on capitalization, i only tagged endgame ships tbh, multiple POVs, this is as angsty as i can make something which isn't a lot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-14
Updated: 2017-02-14
Packaged: 2018-09-24 08:15:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9712928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jinxfabray/pseuds/jinxfabray
Summary: in which jaebum needs a new actor to help him out with his assignments, because he's not planning on coming near park jinyoung ever again.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [backwardreverse](https://archiveofourown.org/users/backwardreverse/gifts).



> this fic was supposed to be bianca's fluffy valentine's present (in advance? bc brazil does valentine's in june? how confusing) and instead it's........... this. anyway. i hope you like it because i wrote it with a lot of love bc ur one of the best persons in my life and i wish i could write u all the fic u deserve!
> 
> thanks to tasha and sara for always holding my hand throughout my writing process, and to ash and aye for betaing!
> 
> thanks to kodaline for ruining my life as well, title from talk

_i. jackson pt i_

 

the guy that sits next to jackson in his lit theory class has been consistently late for the entire month. not that jackson’s noticed him or anything, but he does sit right next to him and he does also have a very handsome face, even if he’s usually scowling like someone spoiled the ending of his favorite book series to him right before he walked into the classroom. from what jackson’s contacts have told him, his name is im jaebum and he’s a film major. from what jackson’s eyes have told him, he’s out of his league, so he’s limited himself to staring from afar (or as afar as he can, since they’re sitting so close to each other and all that).

he’s not expecting jaebum to show up fifteen minutes early on this particular monday morning, so that takes him aback a little, but then he’s definitely not expecting him to turn towards him and crack a smile either - that throws him off so much he nearly falls off his seat.

“hey,” jaebum says politely, and god, he has a gorgeous voice, all deep and reverberating. jackson is fucked. “you’re jackson, right? i’m im jaebum.”

it is way too early for jackson to handle this many unexpected events, but he manages to school his shocked expression into what he hopes is a nice looking smile -- or at least not a terrifying one.

“yeah, jackson wang, nice to meet you,” he says. jaebum is still taking off his coat so jackson doesn’t know if he should try to stretch his hand or if he should bow or straight up ask for his number and then drop out of college when he gets unavoidably rejected.

“so this is gonna sound weird, but we have a mutual friend who said you might be able to help me out with something?” jaebum says when he’s done removing his jacket and dazzling jackson with his graceful moves in the process. “i’m looking for an actor for a thing i have to do for class.”

“i’m -- what, me?” jackson stutters out, wanting to kick himself as he does. he’s usually so good at being suave, he doesn’t know why all his skills are failing him right now. “i’m not an actor, sorry, i don’t know who said that but i -- i mean, i haven’t ever even tried it.”

jaebum flashes a grin that takes away his entire upper lip and jackson’s heart disappears with it.

“you didn’t say no so i’ll take that as a maybe,” he says. “it’s a very tiny short film, only a couple of scenes, and i could help you out, i have enough experience for the both of us,” jaebum shrugs, “youngjae said you wouldn’t chicken out in front of a camera and really, that’s all it takes.”

of all the people jackson had thought of when jaebum mentioned them having a friend in common, he wouldn’t have ever expected this betrayal from youngjae, but it definitely makes sense for him to be the one jaebum knows.

“well, that much is true, i do pretty well in front of cameras,” jackson says slowly, like he’s considering it, though he’s already set on saying yes. “i might be really bad at it, but if you’re willing to risk it, i can totally help you out.”

“ah thanks,” jaebum nods. “i’ll tell you more after class? i bet you’ll be great at it, honestly, don’t worry about it.”

the professor walks into the classroom right at that moment so all jackson can do is mumble his agreement as he smiles back at jaebum, hoping with all his heart that he won’t end up being a terrible disappointment to him.

he texts youngjae in the middle of the class because he needs to know more about this thing he’s signed himself up for, and when youngjae doesn’t reply because apparently he hasn’t been raised properly and refuses to look at his phone while in class or something, jackson goes straight to what’s usually his last resort -- good old google.

apparently jaebum wasn’t kidding about being experienced, since his resume comes up first thing and it is rather long. it’s mostly short films he’s done for classes, but then he’s also done some stuff for festivals, and there’s one particular project that keeps coming up which jackson gathers jaebum won some sort of award for. none of that stands out as much as the fact that throughout the past two years jaebum has worked on every single thing he’s done with the same person. jackson is intrigued, and yet when the professor dismisses the class and jaebum nudges him and asks him if he would like to discuss everything over a cup of coffee, something in his heart tells him it might be best not to ask him straight away about it.

(his heart is 100% right, and in the future, jackson will appreciate it so much for having spared him the pain it would have been to bring up park jinyoung.)

  
  


luckily for jackson, youngjae informs him of who park jinyoung is exactly before he asks jaebum about it, so by the second time they meet up for coffee, jackson feels completely ready to tackle on the subject. youngjae gave him very clear instructions, saying he should not bring it up no matter what, and if they spotted jinyoung, jackson would have to grab jaebum and physically remove him from the place. neither of those things make any sense to jackson, and besides, youngjae isn’t the one who feels like he’s being taken for a rebound -- even if it’s merely for acting purposes. he’d just feel much more at ease if he could hear it from jaebum himself that there’s no such thing as rebounds when it comes to casting, like youngjae also kindly informed him while rolling his eyes very hard.

jaebum texted him the night before saying the campus cafeteria was usually pretty quiet on saturday mornings which made it ideal for working, and he was absolutely right. jackson settles on a table by the window, looking around a bit in awe because he’s never seen the cafeteria this empty and calm, and it’s kind of beautiful. not beautiful enough to make him think of ever being up before nine am on a saturday again in his entire life, but still, sort of alright.

jackson scans the place out of boredom, squinting as he tries to make out the title of the novel the girl in the corner table is reading, and then looking away really fast from the cute couple near the bar who are giggling into each other’s ears and being on the verge of disgusting with how good and soft they look together. he’s about to take his phone out to ask jaebum if he overslept or something when he finally sees him walking in.

“hey, sorry, i couldn’t find the script anywhere and i wanted you to have a read,” jaebum says as he sits across from jackson.

“that’s alright, i only got here a couple minutes ago,” jackson smiles, taking the sheets of paper jaebum is handing him and having a look. “oh, i would’ve gotten you something but i wasn’t sure what you liked,” he says after a second, looking back at jaebum.

“it’s fine, i’ll go get my drink while you read those?” jaebum says as he gets to his feet. jackson nods, and he’s only managed to read the title when jaebum sits back down, or more like drops down on his chair, whispering something that sounds a lot like a curse word.

“everything okay?”

“peachy,” jaebum says, his mouth forming a very straight line as he moves his chair so he’s sitting next to jackson, back against the window. it’s a good sign, jackson thinks, it means he hasn’t just randomly spotted jinyoung walking past the cafe or something. “however, you’re gonna have to go get my coffee for me because my ex boyfriend and his stupidly handsome new boyfriend are sitting right by the bar and i love myself too much to walk past them.”

so that is indeed park jinyoung, jaebum’s ex leading man in more ways than one. jackson is very glad jaebum’s decided to handle this situation maturely by sitting so that he can stare straight at the couple, and he can only hope they don’t notice. youngjae’s advice on how to grab jaebum when removing him from jinyoung’s proximity suddenly makes sense and jackson is starting to work out the logistics of it as he walks to the bar, doing his best not to look at jinyoung and his boyfriend.

he’s back as quickly as he can manage, bringing jaebum a cup of very dark coffee which still looks less bitter than jaebum’s face.

“he’s not even that pretty up close, right? that mark guy?” jaebum asks when jackson sits down, not looking at him because that would entail tearing his gaze away from jinyoung for a second.

“i don’t really know which one is mark?” jackson ventures, and he’s starting to feel a little hopeless sitting here.

“the one with the obnoxious giggle,” jaebum says and he’s squinting so hard jackson thinks he might not even be seeing anything at this point, but it seems to power his glare. “there, see, his arms are too long for his own sake, he doesn’t even know where to put them.”

jackson has absolutely no clue what jaebum is babbling on about, but he does know now that mark must be the one giggling on the right, which makes jinyoung the one that’s staring right at them at this very second.

"fuck,” jackson mutters, and he’s not willing to witness the dramatic scene he can already sense is approaching judging from the glare jinyoung is now sending their way, and how mark seems to have gone very still by his side, no traces of giggling left. “okay, that’s it, we’re leaving,” he says as sternly as he can manage, grabbing jaebum by the elbow. “sorry hyung, i do not mean to be disrespectful but we have that script to go over and we’re clearly not gonna get any work done here.”

it takes a whole lot more tugging and begging on jackson’s part to get jaebum to stand up, and as they walk out the door, jackson can feel jinyoung throwing imaginary daggers his way which jaebum hasn’t noticed because the second jinyoung looked up, jaebum’s gaze dropped to the ground. even after they’ve left the cafeteria, jackson can feel the tense air they seem to still be carrying around them, and he’s gonna have to have yet another chat with youngjae about this whole situation real soon if he wants to avoid getting caught in that tension ever again.

  
  


 

_ii. mark pt i_

 

“jaebum hyung is working on a new thing with that new guy,” yugyeom whispers out of nowhere, breaking the silence quietly enough mark wouldn’t have heard him over the music playing through his headphones if the song hadn’t been ending right when he said it.

he knows well enough yugyeom wouldn’t have brought jaebum up with mark sitting right here if he’d thought mark could hear them, which usually would be enough for him to turn the volume up and just let them talk, but this time, he pauses his music altogether.

“i don’t remember asking you about that,” jinyoung says, giving yugyeom the kind of look that would make anyone else shrink in their seats, but it has zero effect on yugyeom, who’s been on the receiving end of said glare far too many times.

“i could tell you were wondering,” yugyeom shrugs, and mark glances up from his book to catch him giving jinyoung a hint of a smirk. it sends a nasty feeling straight to mark’s heart, one he’s been trying to ignore for longer than he should have. “and bambam said youngjae knows the guy and that he’s pretty great.”

“i just wanted a cute dongsaeng, and instead, i got you,” jinyoung sighs, going back to typing his essay on his laptop. “i have zero interest in my ex boyfriend whom i broke up with like, five months ago? i can’t even recall anymore.”

mark’s pretty sure jinyoung knows exactly how many months it’s been - he probably knows how many days, how many hours it’s been since the last time he spoke to jaebum. he knows yugyeom knows this too from the way he rolls his eyes, and now mark really wishes he’d turned the volume up like his brain was telling him to do instead of pausing the music like his heart demanded, because now he’s gonna have to do something about this, and he’s not gonna like it.

yugyeom doesn’t last much longer at the library because he never does, not when it’s just him, mark and jinyoung. they are apparently too quiet and ridiculously focused on doing homework, though mark isn’t sure what else they’re supposed to be doing while at the library. they stay a little longer after he leaves, until jinyoung is done with his essay. it’s gotten dark outside while they were studying, and it’s cold, so mark zips his jacket all the way up and puts his fists deep into his pockets before jinyoung can reach to hold his hand.

there’s been an awkward vibe ever since yugyeom mentioned jaebum, but mark doesn’t think jinyoung has picked it up, so this is gonna catch him off guard but there’s really no point in postponing the inevitable. it will never be the right moment, and at least now it isn’t the absolute worst one.

“we should break up,” mark says once they’ve left the library behind and okay, he could have phrased it so it didn’t catch jinyoung /that/ off guard, but he had to put it out there somehow and it felt like the best way to do it. just rip it off, like a band aid, and see if that makes it hurt any less.

“what,” jinyoung says, feet coming to a stop. mark can see him thinking at a ridiculously fast speed, going over their afternoon together, trying to see if he did anything wrong.

“i don’t think rebounds are supposed to last this long, that’s all,” mark shrugs, hoping it will be enough to put jinyoung out of his misery because the truth is, he didn’t do anything wrong. mark knows he was also counting on actually getting over jaebum at some point in his life, and it probably brings him as little joy as it does to mark.

“you’re not - mark, what are you even saying,” jinyoung says, and mark expected him to get it faster so he wouldn’t have to say the actual words that have been nagging him for the past month. “we’ve been dating for like, two months, that hardly counts as a rebound.”

mark sighs, and actually gives him a second because there’s still a chance he’ll get there on his own accord, without him having to walk him through it.

“it’s alright,” he says eventually. “i knew what it was when you first asked me out, and then i kind of thought it would go away, but it hasn’t gone away and that’s not your fault.”

for a moment it looks like jinyoung’s gonna ask what it was that he hoped would disappear, but then he stares right into mark’s eyes and it all seems to fall down around him.

for the first time, mark wonders if maybe jinyoung honestly isn’t aware of how deeply ingrained in his heart jaebum still is, if maybe he’s grown so used to having him there that his presence feels like a part of him he doesn’t even wanna try living without.

“i’m sorry,” jinyoung says quietly.

it’s a very cold night and there’s not a single cloud in sight, the stars shining bright and steadily. mark stares up at them for a moment to gather himself, because it’s only been two months, but breaking up is never easy, and he had hopes this wouldn’t necessarily end this way. silly hopes, he knows now, but still.

“it’s okay,” he nods, and he reaches out to grab jinyoung’s hand and squeeze it just a tiny bit. “i still wanna be your friend, i think - i think we might have gotten out of this soon enough that i might be able to do that.”

jinyoung nods, and mark isn’t as sure of what he just said as he sounded, because though he knows he doesn’t wanna let go of him just yet, he also knows his heart is feeling rather heavy in his chest at the moment. he’s willing to try though, if it’s what it takes.

“thanks,” jinyoung gives him a small smile, and he sounds so sincerely grateful mark can’t help but smile back. “i don’t wanna lose you, and i’m sorry for -- well. because it was too soon, and i should’ve known, but maybe --”

“don’t,” mark cuts him off, because there can’t be room left for any maybes or laters. it’s got to be a clean cut so they can start afresh and if things change, then they’ll change, but carrying on with even the slightest of hopes will most likely lead to him getting crushed. “let’s just leave it, and let’s -- let’s be friends.”

“i can do that,” jinyoung says. mark lets go of his hand, and jinyoung is chewing on his bottom lip like he wants to say more, but it’s too cold and mark is on the verge of actually feeling the heartbreak hit him.

“i’ll see you around,” he says, and before he can stop himself he’s leaning in and pressing a chaste, closed mouth kiss to jinyoung’s lips.

he walks away before jinyoung can say bye, and it takes everything in him not to look back.

 

 

 

 

 

_iii. jackson pt ii_

 

he didn’t mean to overhear youngjae and bambam at lunch, but jackson happened to be sitting right there when bambam broke the news to youngjae and now he has this information in his head that he doesn’t know what to do about. he’s been helping jaebum with his short film for almost a week and a half and they’ll probably be done in a couple of days, but the truth is they’ve grown rather close and whatever feelings jackson might have thought he harbored for jaebum disappeared as soon as he realized how deeply into his ex jaebum still was.

so maybe he’s been thinking about asking youngjae about this mark dude, and if him and jinyoung were really serious or what, because on jaebum’s end it looked like he could at least use some closure. now that he knows mark and jinyoung are done, he thinks maybe what they need isn’t closure, but another shot. for that to happen, jackson would need to find out how jinyoung feels about the whole thing, and he would definitely need to know exactly why they broke up, which isn’t information jaebum has deemed relevant enough to share throughout all his endless pining.

(he’d been quiet about it at first, staring longingly at jinyoung when they happened to be in the same room, and then jackson had found him re-watching his old films and sighing heavily and jaebum had started talking about how well they worked together and then he’d never stopped.)

jaebum kicks the chair jackson’s been balancing on for the past fifteen minutes, and his fast reflexes save him from falling face first on the floor. he glares at jaebum who merely shrugs.

“you looked like you were thinking too hard,” he says. “not a good look on you.”

“thanks,” jackson says, rolling his eyes as he tries to focus back on what’s currently happening. his matchmaking plans will have to wait.

“so i think this looks pretty good, i’m just gonna need to shoot that final scene and we’re all done,” jaebum continues talking about the film, shutting down his laptop. “thanks for all the time you spent on this, deadline’s next week and i wouldn’t have made it on time if you hadn’t been so willing to shoot at weird hours,” jaebum says, suddenly earnest, looking like he’s forcing himself to keep eye contact with jackson though he’s starting to turn pink.

“no problem, hyung, i promised to help you out, didn’t i,” jackson grins, bright and wide, clapping him on the shoulder. “i’m glad you’re not terribly disappointed with the results of my acting, and i hope your teachers understand you only asked me to act because of my handsome face and not my skills.”

“if i’d been looking for someone with a handsome face i would’ve asked youngjae, but he had too much dignity to do some of these scenes,” jaebum laughs, failing in his attempt at shielding himself from jackson’s tickle attack when he says that.

“see if i ever help you out again,” jackson says rolling his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest.

jaebum switches into working mode easily, and he’s back to being focused on going through the scenes in a second. jackson gets bored quickly, pulling out his phone and scrolling through his instagram feed while he waits for jaebum to finish up so they can go get lunch. he goes through his entire feed without jaebum saying a single word though, so he looks up and he’s zero percent surprised when he finds jaebum going through scenes of some older film, one starring the one and only park jinyoung.

“why did you break up?” jackson lets out before he can think it through, because jaebum is staring at the screen with such intensity that he just has to do it, he needs to know.

jaebum pauses the film when he asks, and there’s a very long moment of silence when jackson regrets every single one of his life choices, but then jaebum opens his mouth.

“it wasn’t working,” he says at last, still staring at the screen. “it was perfect for like, the first year and a half, but then -- we were doing so well, everything we worked on turned out great and it felt like we might actually go places, you know? but we both wanted to win at everything too much and sometimes we’d forget we were supposed to be a team.”

jaebum shrugs, chewing on his bottom lip, and it sounds like this is the first time he talks about this side of him and jinyoung this earnestly in a very long time. he’s opening up his heart and jackson wasn’t quite ready for how truly open the wound still is, but the pain is right there in his tone of voice, as fresh as if he was talking about something from the day before.

“we started having fights, like, real ones. we never used to have those, and suddenly we would just clash all the time and we were working on a clip i had to hand in for a class and we couldn’t get it done because we couldn’t agree on anything about it,” jaebum finally shuts down his laptop, sighing. “i don’t remember much about that last day, to be honest, i just know i was stupid and said something about me being the one in charge of the creative process and then twenty minutes later jinyoung was walking away and that was that.”

it sounds like they had exactly zero closure and as far as jackson is concerned, that’s all he needed to hear to know he must go on with his plan of getting them back together.

“and you never tried talking to him again after that?” jackson asks, finally getting jaebum to look at him.

“it didn’t seem worth the shot, we said some pretty nasty things so i doubt he wants to hear from me again.”

“did you mean them, the nasty things?”

“of course not, i was just mad,” jaebum shakes his head, giving jackson a look like he’s insane for even thinking that.

“then you should try and apologize, i bet he’s sorry about some of the nasty things he said as well,” jackson suggests cautiously, and he’s half expecting jaebum to shake his head again and ask him to never bring this up again, but instead jaebum’s eyes light up.

“do you really think so?” he asks, and there’s something about the way in which he says it, like he’d thought of it before but was lacking the courage and now he’s ready to latch onto jackson’s support. “but what if -- i don’t know, what if he hates me and i go up to him and he doesn’t wanna hear me out?”

“i still think it’s worth a shot,” jackson says dubiously, because he gets jaebum’s fear of rejection, and yet it feels like it’d be stupid not to try. “if only there was a way we could find out how ready he is to stop being an idiot and forgive you.”

jaebum is about to roll his eyes and say something about how jackson is too biased as his friend to be giving him advice on this, but then he gets an idea, his eyes sparkling like the metaphorical light bulb that’s just light up over his head.

“you should ask him,” he says, and jackson’s eyes go wide so he hurries, “not directly, but you have friends in common, right? you should get close to him and find out what he’s been saying about me.”

“what,” jackson asks, though he heard him loud and clear but his brain is having a hard time wrapping itself around the idea. “your way of subtly finding out is me asking him?”

“you don’t have to straight up ask him,” jaebum says, and he’s back to treating jackson like he’s being thick about this. “just, hang out with him and keep your ears open in case he mentions me.”

it makes absolutely no sense but jaebum is doing his best attempt at puppy eyes and jackson is very weak when it comes to his friends. it won’t hurt him to befriend someone new anyway, even if it is jinyoung, and he figures jaebum isn’t entirely wrong about it not being the worst idea.

“fine,” he says at last, and jaebum grins at him, squeezing his shoulder in a silent thank you. jackson has absolutely no clue how he’ll manage to subtly approach jinyoung, but if it makes jaebum this happy, he’ll do his absolute best.

  
  


 

 

 

 

_iv. mark pt ii_

 

something is up with bambam’s friend and mark isn’t a suspicious person by nature but this jackson guy gives him an odd feeling. it probably has to do with how bambam looked a little like jackson had forced him to introduce him to mark and jinyoung at lunch, or maybe with how jackson had proceeded to join them for lunch every day since then until now, even when bambam isn’t around. either way, he knows jackson has some sort of ulterior motive, or else there’s no reasonable explanation as to why he was attached to jaebum’s hip until two days ago and suddenly he seems to have nowhere to go but wherever jinyoung is.

lunch was already awkward enough with mark and jinyoung doing their best to go back to being friends after all the kissing and hooking up and a little bit of falling on mark’s part. now mark also has to deal with jackson being loud and enthusiastic at all times, and he has no idea how to handle that. it’s too much, and if it had happened at any other time, mark would have made an effort and he would have warmed up to jackson, he knows it, because jackson seems like a great guy.

right now though, he’s busy nursing a broken heart and pretending that’s not what he’s doing at all.

  


 

 

 

 

_v. jackson pt iii_

 

it takes jackson exactly a week and a half of squeezing into jinyoung’s table at lunch to get jinyoung to stop eyeing him like he fears jackson might stab him in the back. mark still hasn’t said a single word to him so far, but that’s alright because jackson has seen him stare at jinyoung and he’s pretty sure mark isn’t gonna help him with his plan anytime soon.

jaebum asks him what he’s discovered on a daily basis but jackson has no findings to report yet - which doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have any findings at all, it’s just that he’s got nothing worth sharing. for better organization and so he doesn’t forget anything, he’s keeping a list, and so far it goes something like this:

things about jinyoung

  1. we have the same psych class but he sits in the middle and pays attention and i didn’t remember i had that class (should start attending class??)
  2. he has a good set of ears
  3. talks weird when mad (dialect??)



 

it isn’t much and jackson is aware of how much like a celebrity profile it’s starting to look, but bringing important issues such as “how would you feel about getting back together with your ex” is harder than he expected. lunch is always crowded, and it isn’t until he actually attends his psych 101 class that he finds the perfect opportunity.

“i’m starting to think you’re stalking me,” jinyoung says as he sits down next to him, and jackson chuckles and prays it doesn’t sound as suspicious as he thinks it did.

“i’ve always had this class, i just had forgotten until you reminded me,” he says playing with the hem of his shirt to try and look casual. he’s probably failing at it.

“well, it’s a good thing you’re here because we’re being put into groups today for the next assignment so you were gonna be left out if you didn’t show up,” jinyoung says as he pulls out his notebook from his bag, making jackson realize his master plan to show up and pretend to be a student while he spied on jinyoung would have worked better if he’d actually brought something to class - even a pen would be more than the absolute nothing he showed up with.

“hey,” he whispers quietly when the teacher walks in, nudging jinyoung to get his attention. “if i promise to actually try and do some work, would you pair up with me? i have literally no clue what we’re supposed to be doing.”

jinyoung laughs softly and nods, swatting his hand away.

“but you have to swear you’ll actually get stuff done,” he says pointing at him and trying to look stern, but it melts away when jackson smiles at him.

“on my life,” jackson says, crossing over his heart.

class isn’t so bad now that he knows someone he can talk to, even if jinyoung constantly looks like he’d rather jackson would stay quiet. he doesn’t shush him so jackson takes that as a sign to keep on mumbling things to him whenever he can, and at one point he almost manages to make him laugh. he’s gonna have to add the cute nose scrunch he does when he’s trying not to crack a smile to his list, though he figures jaebum probably knows about that already.

after the class is dismissed and the teacher has given jackson a severe look for distracting his best student, jinyoung turns to ask him if he’s doing anything after this class and jackson raises an eyebrow without really meaning to.

“we could go over the assignment  at my place and see how we’re gonna split it up or if it makes sense to actually try and do the research together? i know literally nothing about piaget,” jinyoung says as he hangs his bag on his shoulders.

“i don’t even know how to spell that so sure,” jackson grins, and this could not have worked out better for him. “i’m not usually this bad in school, but i didn’t really remember signing up for this class? the girl in charge of helping new students was gorgeous and i got distracted and just sort of ticked wherever she pointed to.”

jinyoung laughs, covering his mouth much to jackson’s dismay, but it still sounds loud and gorgeous. it’s a good sound. jackson wouldn’t mind hearing it more often.

“i know the feeling, i volunteered for a bit helping out transfer students fill out paperwork and stuff and -- people can be very distracting when they have like, faces and stuff,” jinyoung says making a vague gesture.

“is that how you met mark?” jackson dares ask, and he expected jinyoung’s face to fall more dramatically than that, but he only goes a bit serious.

“yeah, he was definitely one of the most distracting faces,” jinyoung says, tucking his hands into the pockets of his coat. “he looked like a deer in the headlights the first time i saw him, his korean was a little rough and my english was rougher but i managed to get him into the classes he wanted and, yeah. he’s a good friend.”

there’s a hint of nostalgia in the way he says it, but it doesn’t feel like heartbreak exactly.

“oh, i thought you two were -- uh, something,” jackson says with his best poker face on, which doesn’t usually work, but jinyoung must be used to people asking him about it because he doesn’t find it weird.

“we broke up,” he states without even flinching. “we were better off as friends,” he adds with a shrug, and jackson thinks that’s enough research for one day, especially because jinyoung is starting to get a little gloomy and he misses the nose scrunch.

once they’re settled in jinyoung’s dorm, jackson waits until jinyoung is distracted looking for his books to pull out his notebook and add “not sad about mark” at the end of his list. it seems important, but he doesn’t feel like it’d be right to tell jaebum about it just yet.

 

 

 

 

_vi. mark pt iii_

 

(it’s not that he was in love with jinyoung, it’s that he’s been here for less than a year and he thought he’d been through enough stuff, leaving all his friends behind in a different continent, feeling ridiculously ostracized when everyone started talking around him too loud and too fast for him to understand, and jinyoung had been his first friend in seoul, and now it feels like he may have lost that too.)

mark doesn’t know that many places but the ones jinyoung took him to, so when he finds one tiny coffee shop right around uni that he’s never been to before, he decides to keep it to himself. there’s nothing particularly special about it, and the coffee isn’t all that good, but he doesn’t recognize a single face in the usual crowd and he needs that these days. somewhere he can be on his own without being alone.

he notices jaebum on a faraway table, tucked into a corner, and it’s almost funny that they’re both here. almost.

  


 

 

 

 

_vii. jackson pt iv_

 

in the end, it’s yugyeom and bambam who tell jackson what he needs to hear. his grand plan to use the psych assignment to get more information on jinyoung’s secret feelings for jaebum fails spectacularly, partly because jinyoung is actually pretty devoted to working on the assignment, and also because jackson’s list of things he’s learned about jinyoung keeps growing but none of the things he has so far is worth telling jaebum about, and yet they’re all very distracting things he can’t stop paying attention to.

“hyung, i thought you were gonna work on fixing their thing so we can all go back to hanging out together instead of having to act like a broken family,” bambam whines from jackson’s desk where’s he’s perched.

“and i thought i was gonna help you and yugyeom with your lit assignment and yugyeom didn’t even show up,” jackson mutters from under his bed, caught up in the search for a missing sock he’s starting to doubt was ever actually in his possession.

“yugyeom’s probably somewhere trying to get jinyoung to stop being so mopey,” bambam says rolling his eyes. people have been doing that a lot at jackson lately. he doesn’t like it. “youngjae is probably with jaebum trying to get him to stop being so mopey, and i’m here to remind you of your responsibilities.”

“i don’t even know if jinyoung wants to hear from jaebum ever again, it’s hard to bring up the subject,” jackson says, finally giving up in his sock hunt and getting out from under his bed.

“there’s a spiderweb on your hair,” bambam points out vaguely, making jackson shriek in panic. “here,” he says, actually being helpful for once though he messes up jackson’s hair in the process. “is that really what you’re waiting to hear? because that’s stupid, hyung, honestly.”

“calling me hyung doesn’t make calling me stupid less disrespectful, brat,” jackson says, swatting at him lightly.

“jinyoung-hyung has been pining since the second they broke up and he’s never gonna stop,” bambam shrugs like nothing happened. “he and mark broke up because of that, and that wasn’t so long ago so i doubt that’s changed.”

“just because he’s still sad over it doesn’t mean he’d be willing to give him another chance,” jackson says, but he’s already sounding dubious.

“i don’t think he’s all that willing because this is jinyoung after all we’re talking about,” bambam starts, and he actually looks like he’s giving it some thought. “if jaebum did something though, like, if he showed him he’s sorry rather than just say it, that might work.”

it’s silly enough that jackson feels like he should have figured that out sooner, but he didn’t, so he puts an arm around bambam’s shoulders and messes up his hair fondly.

“you’re smarter than you seem,” he says, holding him tight so he doesn’t get to hit him like he’s clearly trying to do. “now i just gotta figure out what jaebum could do to show jinyoung he’s truly aware of the star he is and that he’s ready to appreciate him more if he gives him another chance.”

bambam stops flailing and gives him a look jackson chooses to ignore, because he’s got more important things to think about right now, and clearly bambam had his moment of brilliance already and is now back to being weird, because there’s nothing funny about what jackson just said. nothing at all. everyone knows jinyoung is a star, jackson’s just acknowledging it, just like he acknowledges all of his other great qualities, and bambam can go give funny looks to someone else for all he cares.

  
  
  
  


it goes like this: jackson texts jinyoung to tell him they should meet up in the a/v room after class so he can show him a thing that’s totally got to do with their assignment, and then he turns off his phone and buries his face in the pillow because somewhere along the way he fucked up and he doesn’t want to think about how. at least not now, not when jaebum is showing jinyoung the forty five minute compilation he made of every scene they ever shot together and that became a thousand times better than jaebum had planned it to thanks to jinyoung’s input. it’s gonna work, jackson knows it because he specifically told jaebum he needed to do this exactly because even without asking him he knows the one thing that jinyoung hasn’t quite figured out how to forgive him for is how dismissive he was about his participation in everything they did.

he gives them a couple of days to figure things out, settle back together, go back to being the power couple everyone missed.

(he’s giving himself a couple of days to get used to this, if he’s being honest, but he’s trying hard not to be.)

jinyoung texts him exactly one week after the big day, and jackson knows it’s about the assignment they should hand in in exactly two days, so he’s not shocked at seeing his name on his phone screen. he clicks on the message, and he has to read it a couple of times to be sure of what it says. after the third time, he finally gathers himself enough to get up from bed and sprint down the hallway.

  
  


 

 

_viii. mark pt v_

 

yugyeom tells him about jinyoung and jaebum getting back together, and then no one needs to tell him about them breaking up because he sees jaebum walking back into the coffee shop he hasn’t been to for the past week and a half and he knows.

he doesn’t mean to talk to him because the truth is they haven’t ever talked to each other before and now feels like a weird time to start, but he goes refill his cup when jaebum is making his order and they end up making eye contact and it would be weirder not to say anything, he figures.

“hi,” he says and he definitely did not mean for his voice to come out that small and quiet, but it wouldn’t have caught jaebum’s attention if he hadn’t been already looking at him.

“hey,” jaebum says, and he waves in the most awkward possible way, which is such a relief mark can’t help but crack a smile at it. it’s ridiculous, everything about this situation is ridiculous, and he should just go back to his seat because he’s supposed to finish reading the aeneid for tomorrow and he’s not even halfway through it, but jaebum opens his mouth like he’s gonna say something else so he stays. “i was just leaving, there’s, uh. there’s no empty tables.”

it takes mark a couple of seconds to understand what he means, and he actually looks around to make sure he’s being literal and his korean skills aren’t failing him.

“you can sit with me,” he offers belatedly realizing how weird that might sound, but jaebum doesn’t seem to hate the idea. “we don’t have to talk,” he adds, chewing on his bottom lip, and now jaebum brightens up at the offer, causing a knot somewhere in mark’s insides to disentangle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

_ix. jinyoung pt i_

 

jinyoung has no idea why his first reaction when he starts walking away from jaebum is to text jackson. he’s known all along jackson was mostly hanging out with him because of reasons that had to do with jaebum, and last week was proof of that, because there’s no way the im jaebum he knows and loves would have come up with that on his own.

he still texts jackson, because even if he did start approaching him for whatever plan jaebum had come up with, they ended up becoming friends and jinyoung could use a friend right now. it doesn’t even cross his mind that jackson was jaebum’s friend first and jaebum might need a friend too right now, not until it’s too late and he’s getting to his dorm only to find jackson sitting at his front step.

“you sounded distressed,” jackson says, getting to his feet, and he’s got his eyebrows all scrunched up in concern.

“we broke up,” jinyoung says, and the way jackson’s face falls is hilarious, he’s more disappointed in this relationship falling apart (again) than any of the people actually involved in it. “come in, let’s go inside and i’ll tell you more about it.”

“you don’t look mad,” jackson says curiously, eyeing him like jinyoung might be hiding all his anger and sadness somewhere.

“i’m not,” jinyoung says closing the door behind them and toeing off his shoes. he doesn’t quite know how to explain what just happened, but he’s gonna have to try, judging from the look on jackson’s face. “i don’t know, maybe we waited too long before trying again and it just, the thing that made it all work wasn’t there anymore?”

jackson looks dumbfounded, and he sits cross legged on the floor, still looking up at jinyoung expectantly like he’s gotta have a better explanation that he’s not willing to tell him about. there really isn’t, and that’s why it’s so different this time -- there was no big fight to tell everyone about, there was just a mutual understanding, a moment of looking at each other and knowing they were ready to be good friends, a great team, but nothing else.

“the first time, it felt like -- it felt like we were giving up on a universe of possibilities. it felt like we had a star in our hands and we’d let it turn cold and dim. this time, it’s more like -- it’s like a candle that’s blown out,” jinyoung gesticulates like that’s gonna help jackson understand, but he doesn’t think it’s worth it. it’s how he knows this is really the end for them, the fact that it made so much sense they didn’t need an explanation for it because they both felt it so strongly. “something changed between now and then, but i think we needed that, we needed to know there really was nothing left.”

“then i guess i’m glad you did that?” jackson says, and when jinyoung sits down next to him, ignoring his very comfortable bed in favor of sitting next to jackson, he puts an arm around jinyoung and pulls him close either way. just because he’s not miserably heartbroken doesn’t mean he doesn’t deserve a consoling hug after having a break up, no matter how friendly it was.

“it’s for the best,” jinyoung nods, letting himself be cuddled. “we can finally move on now.”

“that’s good,” jackson nods, petting his hair gently, and jinyoung leans in a little closer, closing his eyes.

“yeah,” he says quietly with a tiny sigh that’s mostly made of relief and a newfound calm. “it’ll be good.”

  


 

 

 

 

_x. jaebum pt i_

 

five days go by before jaebum finally looks up from his laptop one afternoon and decides it’s time.

“we should go back,” he says, then he waits for mark to take his earbud out and actually pay attention to him and repeats himself. they’ve been having these bizarre quiet afternoons together in the small coffee shop jaebum chose to hide in when he started avoiding jinyoung, and it’s been oddly nice. he was ready to hate mark when he first saw him, especially because he was holding hands with his ex boyfriend, but now that he’s managed to move past that, he’s come to realize mark is actually kinda cool. “youngjae has been whining about how it’s time we all go back to hanging out together.”

“the maknaes have suffered the most, haven’t they,” mark says, an amused glint in his eyes and a hint of a smirk playing at the corner of his mouth that jaebum definitely doesn’t stare at. “bambam has been sending me weird texts about family reunions and i’m not sure i know exactly where i fit into his scheme but i don’t think i want to know just yet.”

jaebum laughs, and they haven’t had many conversations so he’s slightly surprised at how easy he finds talking to mark.

“so, what do you say?”

“i say i’ve been craving those little cupcakes they make at you know where for weeks now,” mark nearly whispers, looking around suspiciously like someone’s gonna get mad at them for betraying this coffee shop for the one around the corner. “lunch tomorrow?”

he can’t be sure because he doesn’t know him all that well, but jaebum would swear there’s something like uncertainty in mark’s voice, like he’s not quite sure jaebum actually wants him to go even though he’s the one who brought it up.

“yeah, definitely,” jaebum nods, hoping to sound as reassuring as he intends to be.

“it’s a plan,” mark says, finally giving him a proper smile that jaebum mirrors instantly.

(when they sit down at the same table they used for so many years, the one jaebum hasn’t been at for months now, and mark sits by his side and steals a fry from his plate, jinyoung across from him laughing onto jackson’s shoulder while bambam, yugyeom and youngjae fight over stolen nuggets or something, it feels like something is finally falling into place in some mysterious way jaebum is very close to figuring out.)

  


 

 

 

_epilogue i_

 

it’s been eight months, three weeks and five days since the big, final break up. summer break’s come and gone, and jinyoung isn’t entirely thrilled to be back in campus, but then he skips up the last steps to his dorm and spots jackson sitting there, completely asleep against his door.

he doesn’t dare wake him up but also he kind of needs him to move in order to get into his dorm, so he sits next to him and waits. it takes jackson a couple of minutes and then he’s shifting and dropping his head on jinyoung’s shoulder.

“i flew in three hours ago,” jackson mumbles without opening his eyes, and jinyoung laughs softly. it still makes no sense to him how jackson manages to be so cool and so cute at the same time, but it’s all sorts of wonderful. “can i sleep here forever?”

“no, but if you get up i’ll let you sleep in my bed for a while,” jinyoung says, shaking his shoulder so jackson has to get up. “you could’ve gone back to your room instead of sitting out here, you know.”

“but then i would’ve missed out on sleeping on your bed,” jackson smirks, and jinyoung shakes his head at him, but it’s fond and he’s a little grateful jackson’s here anyway.

he lets him into his dorm, putting all his bags in the corner in case he ever feels like unpacking, and he’s not even done toeing off his shoes but jackson’s already tucked himself into his bed.

“hey, jackson?” jinyoung says, stuck in the action of removing his left shoe because it’s suddenly hit him, how it’s been long enough and this time, he’s entirely sure of what he’s doing. jackson makes a noise that sounds a lot like yes, and jinyoung walks up to the bed slowly, sitting down on it and reaching out to pet his cheek and check if he’s awake. “we should date.”

“yes,” jackson mumbles, grabbing his hand and pulling him so abruptly jinyoung falls on top of him. “everyone in the entire world knows that, but i need to sleep now, can we date tonight?”

jinyoung laughs a little, somewhere between relieved and a little euphoric because he hadn’t planned this in the slightest and yet now it feels absolutely right and like it’s exactly how it should have happened.

“can we kiss now, sleep then and date later?” he asks, shifting so he’s resting on top of jackson more comfortably, and jackson cracks an eye open at that, giving him that smirk jinyoung can’t resist for another second.

“i was hoping you’d say that,” jackson manages to say before jinyoung’s closing the gap between them, kissing him quiet like he should’ve done months ago.

  
  
  
  


 

 

 

_epilogue ii_

 

jaebum has bitten off every single one of his nails, and the last ten minutes before the gates open are unbearable because he has nothing to chew on to keep himself distracted. the more he thinks about it, the more he wonders if maybe he’s being stupid about this -- just because he ended the school year hanging out with mark almost every day doesn’t mean they have anything going on. even the fact that mark texted him the entire month he’s been back home in la, sending him the dumbest selfies with his dumb american friends, doesn’t necessarily mean anything -- he may have been sending those to everyone he knows, just to make sure they don’t forget about him. they had text on them that seemed specifically addressed to jaebum, but he could have been reading it all wrong and he may be about to look like a fool.

he’s almost entirely convinced he should walk away when the gates open and people start coming down from the plane and jaebum would start running except he spots mark and it happens almost in slow motion, the grin that spreads across his lips, his ridiculously sharp canines shining in the distance. jaebum hasn’t been thinking about mark’s teeth because that would be weird, but he hasn’t not been thinking about them either, if that makes sense (it doesn’t, he knows it doesn’t but oh my god he hasn’t seen mark in a month and a week and he has no idea how this happened but it’s been the longest month of his life).

“hey stranger,” mark says in english as he walks up to him, dropping his bag on the floor. it’s that little gesture that betrays how casual and unbothered by jaebum’s presence he’s pretending to be, because he literally lets his bag hit the floor and the noise makes him wince but he can’t take his eyes off jaebum. “i didn’t expect you to be here.”

“you mentioned your dad was flying tomorrow and i thought it’d be sad if no one came pick you up,” jaebum says, and when he’d practiced saying that in his head he’d imagined he’d be too embarrassed to look at him. now that he’s actually here he can’t stop looking at him. this is so new and fresh and he’s not sure he remembers how to take baby steps with these things, but they don’t seem to be necessary right now.

“that’s funny because i’m pretty sure i’d asked jinyoung to come pick me up,” mark says, and he sounds so delighted that jaebum would high five himself for how well this is going so far.

“jinyoung was busy,” jaebum says rolling his eyes slightly and taking a step closer. “i talked him into making plans so he couldn’t come.”

“aw, did you want to be the one to pick me up then?” mark is so close jaebum can almost feel his breath on his lips, and it’s getting hard to focus on what he’s saying. “you know, it almost sounds like you missed me.”

“i may have,” jaebum admits, doing his absolute best to keep the minimal distance between them. “but it would be weird, wouldn’t it be, since you’re my ex’s ex and all that?”

mark laughs out loud at that, that ridiculously high pitched giggle jaebum finds infuriatingly adorable, and he laughs with his whole body, his nose crashing on jaebum’s shoulder.

“i was gonna kiss you but now i’m not so sure,” he says when he finally catches his breath, lifting his face.

“don’t be an idiot,” jaebum groans, tugging at his shirt to pull him in and finally, finally kiss him. it’s slow and gentle and they melt into each other because this has been months in the making and it is only just beginning.

“my phone is buzzing,” mark mumbles against his kiss. “bet it’s the kids, i promised yugyeom i’d let him know when i landed.”

“we’ll let them know in a minute,” jaebum says, and he’s already back to kissing him when it finally sinks in. he’d say something, but he has the entire ride home to tease mark about calling their friends the kids, and he only has right now to kiss him dramatically at an airport.

“hey,” mark breathes against his lips as he pulls away despite jaebum trying to keep him close. “are you doing anything later? there’s this cute coffee shop i know, and i’d kinda like to take you out.”

jaebum would laugh at how cheesy that was if mark wasn’t already pulling him in to kiss him once again, and that’s yet another thing he’ll have to add to the list of things to tease mark about on the way home - after at least another ten thousand kisses.

 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> find me on [twitter](http://twitter.com/ofstellardust/)


End file.
